Testing

Sony Alpha A7 Sample Photos Using The 28-70mm kit lens – Jpeg Quality

I’ve had the Sony Alpha A7 for a few days now and in this article I’m going to share a bunch of sample photos with 100% Crops using the 28-70mm kit lens and jpeg quality. I wanted to see and show you how the new full frame beast handles the information and processes it. After all, shooting Raw quality and developing is great, but if it’s perfect straight off the camera why not use the files?

Jpeg files on the Sony cameras in my experience/ opinion have always been a little bit over sharpened and over saturated right off the camera. The blues also appear to be deeper on the Sony’s. Every camera manufacture processes the raw data differently and in a proprietary way as well. Fuji, is known for the most accurate skin tones and real to life colors. It’s true; I reviewed the Fuji X-Pro 1 (click here) and the colors are better in that regard, but not necessary better overall. Especially when you shoot raw quality. Canon seems to be somewhere between Sony and Fuji in my experience and a nice balance of colors and sharpness on the jpeg files. Samsung, at least on the NX300 I review (click here), seems to be less saturated than Sony and more like Canon colors from the limited use I had.

Jpeg files are fully processed photos that have limited editing room left. The camera did it’s editing magic to the file on camera, and then saved it as a highly compressed jpeg format to conserve space. Raw files have tons of room for enhancement thanks to the large file size that has a lot more information on the capture. More highlight and shadow information, color and the power to selectively sharpen and/or edit additionally with software. When you try to edit a jpeg file, the colors will break apart quick and artifacts will start to show up if you do much more than a slight adjustment.

Moving on to some real Sony A7jpeg sample photos, lets take a look at the latest jpeg processing algorithms and see if anything has changed, improved whatever. Mind you I’m using the kit lens, and these are mostly just snapshots..

Sony Alpha A7 Sample Photos

Starting off with an early morning scene that offered a distant shed and some lines to help compare the zoom range a bit. First 28mm then fully zoomed @ 70mm from the same exact spot.

Some High ISO

Check out the Z-Scene on my deck with the kit lens, poor lighting, and relatively high ISO #’s. Sorry the scene is not as interesting in the early winter months and no colorful flowers or fall foliage, but the depth still works well for comparison purposes. Wait till you see a fast lens on the full frame A7 and this z-scene!

Check out the ISO 6400 photo first that I was hand-holding @ 1/6th of a second! It’s not razor-sharp, but for 1/6sec it’s impressive what the OSS (optical Steady Shot) on the lens can do. When you see the photo full size it looks sharp, but @ 100% you can see the slight blur shift captured. ISO 6400 is very clean compared to my Nex-6.

Even this ISO 16000 photo looks great in my opinion when viewing the scene. The 100% crops are pretty nasty, but do to the 24mp it’s still usable in many cases if you ask me. BW conversions often look great with a little nose anyway 😉

ISO 5000 looks really good and lens corner sharpness seams to hold up in this photo even though I was very close to the oscilloscope. Some barrel distortion is noticeable and I did try to get the camera as centered as possible hand-held. Pretty hard actually when so close!

I live near a bunch of old ski slopes and often pass this lonely chair that hasn’t been used in who knows how long. It’s been catching my eye for some time, but finally pulled over last night and took a few snaps from this area. As it turns out, some pretty killer photo opportunities and I will go back with another lens most likely. All hand-held jpegs don’t forget.

Closing Remarks:

Overall I think the jpeg quality images on the full frame Sony A7 are a significant improvement over my Sony Nex-6. In both dynamic range and high ISO performance, the Full frame A7 is clearly better from what I’m seeing. The Kit lens is performing pretty good and as expected really. OSS works great and overall sharpness is a good corner to to corner with minimal chromatic aberrations visible. The AF seems to be nailing everything I point the camera except that fence picture above which I had to switch to manual for. Very easy to do with your thumb and the button on the back towards the upper right of the lcd screen.

That is all for now, but I’m re-uploaded the A7 and Nex-6 comparison video to Youtube now, as the original had some serious errors I had to fix. Will post that asap.

Catch up with you later and please feel free to ask questions or make specific requests,

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2 Comments

I currently have the NEX-7 and really want to upgrade to the A7, but am trying to determine if I should get it with the kit lens or purchase it with the new primes available and wait until I have enough money for the new zoom that came out.

I’ve heard so many bad things about the A7 kit lens, but these don’t seem half bad. Really not even close to the horrible reviews I’m reading on the lens. Am I missing something? Perhaps I will purchase with the kit lens afterall.

The kit lens is not that bad at all in the real world. It’s not as sharp as the killer Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens or the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 lens, but those are Zeiss primes. If you want the sharpest possible shots, then get one of the primes. In my opinion the kit lens lacks the resolution power for the 36mp Sony A7r, but on the A7 it’s really good for the cost, versatility, and OSS included. I would much rather have the new Zeiss zoom, but it’s not available yet. If you don’t mind a prime lens and plan on getting one anyway, then I would not get the kit lens and go for a prime. Otherwise the kit will do you fine until the Zeiss zoom is in stock.